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Bill Finley

Bill Finley has been covering both thoroughbred and standardbred racing for more than 25 years. He is a racing columnist for ESPN.com and can also be heard on the Down the Stretch show on Saturdays on Sirius XM radio.

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Monday, February 24, 2014

To those who say no one is perfect, meet Bee A Magician. The magnificent female trotter capped off a 17-for-17 3-year-old season in fitting style last night as she was named the 2013 Horse of the Year at the annual Dan Patch Awards banquet at Dover Downs. She was, of course, also named Trotter of the Year.

With Bee A Magician running the table in 2013, there wasn't much suspense last night when it was time to rip open the envelope that held the winner of the Horse of the Year title.

But there were several categories that were announced that many thought were to close to call. In one of the most widely anticipated races of the year, Captaintreacherous was named Pacer of the Year over golden oldie Foiled Again.

In the other categories that were not announced until last night, Royalty For Life won the 3-year-old male trotting championship over Spider Blue Chip, He's Watching won the 2-year-old male pacing title and

Anndrovette won the older pacing mare championship for the third straight year.

For much of the year Bee A Magician and Captaintreacherous were locked in a tight battle for the Horse of the Year title. But when Captaintreacherous was unable to beat older horses in the TVG Free-For-All Pace on the same night that Bee A Magician took the Moni Maker to end her year with a perfect record it was apparent that the filly was going to win the coveted title.

"I actually thought we were the underdog until that last start of the year when we won that night and he didn't," trainer Nifty Norman said. "That probably caused a swing. But you never know. I was confident but I am glad it is over. I am very happy for the owners. They deserved this."

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